Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to information systems. More particularly, to improving pick release performance using a multi-threaded architecture to distribute workloads across multiple processors.
To operate efficiently and compete effectively in a high volume order business, such as a business that processes thousands, tens of thousand or hundreds of thousands of orders on a daily basis, a company must plan and tightly control the acquisition of the materials and resources that it needs to produce and distribute its products or services. Operations of this scale consume a lot of labor and equipment to store, retrieve and move the necessary materials and components required to fulfill the orders. Planning, replenishing, consuming and shipping inventory in an optimal manner can save millions of dollars by reducing obsolescence and increasing the inventory turns.
A variety of tools exist that provide support in establishing an efficient and responsive order fulfillment cycle. An example of one such tool is Oracle's E-Business Suite which enables a company's entire supply chain including customers, suppliers, manufacturing facilities, warehouses, distributors, carriers, and other trading partners to be linked through a common computer network such as the Internet. Order fulfillment software tools, such as Oracle's E-Business Suite, have become an essential component of high volume processing businesses.
As an illustrative example, a high volume order processing system can be used to control the packing and shipping of thousands of items that can be ordered from any one of several sources such as via a website, a mail catalog and/or through retail stores. Some orders that are processed will be for single products while others will be for multiple products. Obtaining the various products to fulfill orders and scheduling the various resources (e.g., fork lift time, packaging materials, warehouse worker time, etc.) needed to fulfill the orders is necessary prior to making shipments. The order fulfillment process includes many different variables and often requires a significant amount of computer processing power. Orders are often processed sequentially in a batch process to prevent scenarios where, due to resource contention issues, the same item or resource in the same warehouse is requested simultaneously by multiple orders leading to deadlocks in the database.
Because of the importance of the order fulfillment tools and optimal management of order processing to the efficient operation of a facility, improvements in the order processing and fulfillment process are continuously sought.
Accordingly, what is desired is to solve problems relating to order processing and fulfillment process, some of which may be discussed herein. Additionally, what is desired is to reduce drawbacks related to order processing and fulfillment process, some of which may be discussed herein.